


Oxygen

by thacmis



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Angst, Digital Art, Fantasy, Fluff, Illustrations, M/M, Romance, mermaid, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 16:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5170151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thacmis/pseuds/thacmis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles, a space explorer. </p><p>Erik, an alien merman.</p><p>(Art gift for Clocks in the Secret Mutant Exchange, with bonus ficlet)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oxygen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clocks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clocks/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [Кислород/Oxygen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5504810) by [Deiko (Gellert)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gellert/pseuds/Deiko)



> For her Secret Mutant Exchange prompt:
> 
> "Fic: Feel free to run with this prompt and write whatever you like, as long as it includes the word 'Bloomsbury'. AU or canon is fine. Just no non-con, please.
> 
> Art: Feel free to do anything you like as long as it includes Charles/Erik!"

*

The mermaid - merman? mer _alien? -_ kept a steady hand on his back as they swam slowly up into the atmosphere. 

The view was beautiful, pink from scattered sunlight and thick clouds of nitrogen gas, bright and warm and surreal. Moons and planets near Bloomsbury loom in the sky, so close one can see the details of their craters. White bubbles of a strange new compound twinkled quietly around them, like shy, curious children. It was something out of a fantasy, and a year ago Charles would have been absolutely elated to even exist in front of such cosmic beauty, but now... 

Now, he only had eyes for Erik, his fierce, beautiful alien, who breathed nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide, who could not breathe oxygen.

Whom he would be leaving in a month.

Charles tightened his grip around Erik's shoulders, swallowing back the lump in his throat. He would  _not_ let his emotions ruin this moment, this gift that Erik had decided to give him.

Erik stopped somewhere very high up above the surface of Bloomsbury, where the ground below was just a faint, purple haze. He turned to Charles and grinned widely, cheeks tinted purple with excitement. A low trill that Charles had learned to identify as an exclamation of joy in the meralien's strange language rumbled up from Erik's throat. With his free arm, Erik pointed a finger to the horizon, where shades of pink and purple and orange and yellow danced in the sky. An aurora, on this planet.

"That's... beautiful," Charles breathed. "Oh, Erik, thank you."

Erik understood. He smiled, and brushed his cheek against Charles' helmet.

It was a gesture of thanks, a return of gratitude of sorts in the creature's language. He'd seen Erik do it to his mates in the cloud nests that Erik had taken him to visit. Their language, it seemed, wasn't so much based on sounds as it was on very subtle body movements, like the twitches of their many fins, a slight change in angle in the way they swam, or a touch on the recipient of their conversation.

When Erik had begun to "talk" to Charles a few months after they had met, Charles had been confused, at first, but it was evident from the extreme gentleness and caution with which Erik touched him that Erik thought that the suit was Charles'  _skin._  It had never bothered Charles until now. 

He couldn't help it. Charles let out a sob, and began to cry earnestly. 

Whimper-like sounds suddenly clicked out of Erik's mouth, and Erik stared at him with wide, imploring black eyes that were sprayed over with what seemed like trillions of small stars. Erik brought both hands around Charles' back and held him tightly.

"I don't want to leave you!" Charles burst out, knowing well that Erik couldn't hear a thing. "I have to - I have to leave soon. But I don't want to - oh, Erik, I want to stay here with you, but we can't ever _be_  together! You think - you think this  _suit_ is a  _part_ of me - no! No, Erik, this - this stupid helmet isn't my face, it isn't my skin. I can't actually _feel_ you, but you think I do. You think I do, giving me these - these _gestures,_ half of which I probably can't even notice! We can't even communicate properly! I'm here, inside, and you can't touch me. You've never actually _touched_ me. _I've_ never touched you. I can't even kiss you because you might d-die from the residual oxygen in my breath. Just - I - " His voice caught and he stopped, letting the tears flow down his face. 

Erik just held him there, amidst the beautiful sea of pink and purple and yellow and white, looking a little lost and very concerned for him. 

"I just... I want to... I love you," Charles whispered helplessly. "I love you." 

Erik brought his arms fully around Charles into a hug. A gesture that Charles had taught him.

That made him smile a little. Charles looked up. 

"I love you," he said again.

Erik stared at him, at his mouth, and then - Charles' eyes widened - Erik mimicked the way Charles' mouth had formed those words, right back at him. 

 _I love you_.

From that small smile and breathtakingly soft expression, Charles knew that Erik, somehow, understood exactly what it meant.

"I love you," Charles said again, a little desperately.

 _I love you_ , Erik returned. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Secret Mutant Exchange, Clocks!!!
> 
> (Note: Erik's eyes are something like [Zeus the Blind Screech Owl's](http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/meet-owl-eyes-night-sky) eyes.)


End file.
